Kronos Still Struggling with Ransomware Aftermath

Payroll management software company Kronos is still struggling with the aftermath of the late 2021 ransomware attack that targeted the company.

Kronos is a software company developing popular and widely used HR and payroll management products. The initial attack on Kronos took place in mid-December 2021. The attack affected Kronos' ability to deliver its services to customers and the company got to work trying to remedy the situation immediately. However, things didn't quite pan out as expected and the damage done by the ransomware was still being fixed even in late January 2022.

Unexpected Delays

After Kronos expected to fix the damage caused by the attack in a handful of days, the company quickly extended that prediction to "several weeks". It seems this was also a bit of a bold estimation, as the company was still working to completely restore regular customer service.

Due to the large number of big clients working with Kronos' systems and services, the disruption caused by the ransomware affected millions of employees, with some left fearing for the timely payment of their monthly salaries. The ransomware attack affected people from all walks of life, from hospital workers to delivery service employees, to public service workers in the US.

Displeased Customers Pressing Legal Action

The company was later hit by legal action undertaken by parties affected by the service outage seeking compensation. One of the lawsuits was a class action by NY transit workers who claimed that the city's transport authorities failed to pay due overtime because of issues with the payroll systems.

In addition to this lawsuit, workers from other big companies including PepsiCo and Tesla filed for legal action as well over being paid inaccurate amounts during the time of the Kronos service outage.

The company is probably going to face additional trouble, as 37 thousand government employees in the state of West Virginia had to have their January salaries entered manually. The state's auditor stated that there will be a lawsuit targeting Kronos in relation to that incident as well. The situation with Kronos and the damage done show just how devastating and long-lasting the effects of a successful ransomware attack can be. The company is no doubt doing its best to remedy the situation, but despite those efforts, it has taken a considerable time to get all systems back to working order.